Re: VB/Delphi "kind of" Service Program_DLL

[Vernon Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Short answer - certainly, this is possible. But 
an even shorter answer - why not do it in Access 
- you already have VBA in Access that can do all 
the prompting you need. What you are asking for 
is just another form, as I understand it. I 
suggest opening up the Northwind example and take 
a look at the various forms in there.

But if you need something that will be used in 
more than Access, get your copy of VB and get 
started. When you open a new project you are 
asked what kind of thing you want to create, 
whether an executable or a DLL or an ActiveX 
control or some other option. You might want to 
consider an ActiveX control, instead of a DLL - 
easier to use in Access. All the information you 
need to get going is in the various help 
resources of VB, especially the Microsoft 
Developer's Network (MSDN) CD that usually comes 
with VB or you can go to 
http://msdn.microsoft.com and rummage around. 
Lots of tutorials, sample code, etc. I have found 
Delphi to be not as easy to get into as VB, but 
if you know Delphi, then there are similar 
resources for getting going. As for VB, I don't 
really know whether to recommend .Net or VB6 - 
they are similar but different enough that it can 
be messy going to .Net from 6, I understand. 
Others will have opinions here, and, of course, 
M$ wants you to go to the latest and greatest. Of 
course, .Net is current, so might be the way to 
go if you have done no VB work before.

BTW, MSDN also has the documentation and examples, etc., for Access.

HTH
Vern

At 03:55 AM 6/10/2006, you wrote:

> Well, maybe I did not make myself clear...
> Let me try to explain it better this time:
> As I see it, any "Function" , in any language, is "a program (or
> whatever)" that can be invoked from another program (Application) to do
> some work and return a result value.
> What I'd like to write is a "Function", could be called
> "Ask_Customer_ID", that would present some displays (windows) with
> search criteria, show a list (ListBox) of those that qualify for the
> entered search criteria, allow for selection, and return the selected
> Customer_ID.
> Any Access Form that needs the customer_ID (Order Entry, or Invoicing,
> etc) asking the user for Customer_ID could then have a "Command Button"
> that, when pressed, would call Function Ask_Customer_ID" to get it
> returned and go on with other processing...
>
> That function (and, possibly, others...) could be "encapsulated" (???)
> in a .DLL to be used "where needed".
> Can this be done? Any example of how to do it?
> But from Access2000 Help (and I guess Access2003 would be the same...)
> searching for "Call" (Action Execute Code):
>     "Microsoft Access ignores the value returned by the Function" (??? !!!)
> Then, maybe, passing the Customer_ID as a ByRef parameter?
>
> Hope I made myself more clear this time.
> TIA
>
> Shannon ODonnell escribió:
>
> >So...I'm not following this completely here... are you wanting to have a
> >customer number (and all key fields) prompt that then writes the values to a
> >file which could be read by your Access and other apps?
> >
> >And you're wanting it such that from within Access or Excel or whatever, you
> >can execute this new app to display the prompt. And your goal is so that the
> >single prompt provides a uniform look and feel to all the apps, writing the
> >data to a single file on the hard drive?
> >
> >Is that what you're after?
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: pctech-bounces+sodonnell=irish-studios.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >[mailto:pctech-bounces+sodonnell=irish-studios.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> >Of Antonio Fernandez-Vicenti
> >Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 8:58 AM
> >To: PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users
> >Subject: [PCTECH] VB/Delphi "kind of" Service Program_DLL
> >
> >  Customer is using Access/2003 for several apps. Several of them start
> >asking for something like "Enter Customer Number", so we'd like to just
> >implement such a Function just once and have all initial Forms for each
> >app, when users is promted for "enter CustomerNo" either answer with a
> >number (if he knows it) or , else, press F4 (or whatever, or a Button)
> >to "call a Function" that will do the work: e.g. present a new Form
> >asking for key values (LastName starting chars, FirstName starting
> >chars, CityAreaCode, etc. Then show customers that fulfill those
> >requirements, allow for selection of one of them , ... just to return
> >the selected code or a "not found" value... to the original App.
> >
> >Such a Function would be used throughout in several different Apps. I
> >think one (best one???) of the alternatives would be to develop a
> >"CustomerSelect Function, receiving no-parms, returning one integer(or
> >zero, maybe) value of selected CustomerCode.
> >This Function could/should be writen either in VB or Delphi, then create
> >a  .DLL with that Function, to register under Windows, to be used for
> >any VB projects that need it.
> >I think of it as a "ServiceProgram" in RPG... but as a DLL.
> >
> >Anyone out there willing to share an example (either VB and/or Delphi)
> >of such a Function?
> >TIA
> >
> >Antonio Fernandez-Vicenti
> >afvaiv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Antonio Fernandez-Vicenti
> afvaiv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> --
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